


a promise of hope is enough to feel free

by Introvertedintellect350



Category: The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mentions of Suicide Attempt, Missing Scene, One Shot, but mostly it's just nice and soft and warm, well they talk about angst anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:15:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28531314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Introvertedintellect350/pseuds/Introvertedintellect350
Summary: “Wait.”Thomas hadn’t even thought before speaking, the word had just slipped out. He had realized, as Newt stood to leave, that he didn’t want to be alone anymore. Or at least, when he was around him he felt comfortable, like he was still able to relax fully in the same way as when he was alone. For some reason he felt like he’d always known Newt – as if in a past life, or in the life he couldn’t remember save for flashes and dreams.“Would. . .you stay?”Or: Thomas wakes up when Newt plays Glade Mother and brings him a blanket, and asks him to stay.Based on a scene in the books, not the movies.
Relationships: Newt/Thomas (Maze Runner)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 82





	a promise of hope is enough to feel free

Thomas was sleeping soundly when he heard a twig snap and startled awake, immediately on high alert and listening intently. He didn’t move, in case whatever was near him hadn’t seen him yet, until he saw a figure out of the corner of his eye coming toward him with a slight limp. 

_Just Newt._

Relief flooded his body, and he lifted his head slightly to get better view in the dark. Newt’s figure emerged more clearly, and Thomas saw a bundle of something in his arms. As he drew nearer, he noticed it was a blanket. 

“Think the bunks are a bit more comfortable than the ivy, Tommy.” Newt remarked as he crouched beside him, blanket still bundled in his arms. When Thomas didn’t answer, he continued. “You doing alright? I know you’re right scared, and you ought to be after all that’s happened – but runnin’ away and hiding ain’t gonna solve that.” 

“But just running might.” Thomas finally spoke, awake and aware enough of himself to do so. 

Newt just shook his head and held out the blanket. “Thought you might want this; the temperature stays nice here, but it does get cool at night. Plus – had to make sure you weren’t out here klunking your pants and panicking.” 

Something warmed in Thomas as the thought of Newt wanting to make sure he was alright. He wasn’t, not really, but the fact Newt wanted to make sure he was felt good. 

“I’m alright. Thanks,” he accepted the blanket, shifting to sit up and lean against the lush, ivy covered wall. 

Newt raised an eyebrow at him, sliding to sit down beside him before asking softly, “You sure? You ran out in a panic then didn’t come back ‘til the Doors were nearly closing.”

Thomas nodded, staring somewhere in the middle distance in between the trees in the darkened forest. Feeling only a slight twinge of guilt in having run out on Newt, he turned to look at him. Newt’s gaze was already on his, fixing him with a concerned, if not a bit reprimanding stare. 

“Tommy, what happened?” 

“It’s like I said,” Thomas answered after a few beats, “The girl – Teresa – was talking to me but in my head. I could hear her clear as day and it freaked me out. I had to get away from it. She said something. . .” he trailed off, unsure if he wanted to tell Newt what she’d said just yet. He didn’t want to freak _him_ out. A breeze blew coolly through the trees and he shivered, pulling the blanket up to cover his arms. They sat in silence for several long moments. 

“How far out into the Maze did you go?” Newt asked, not pushing him on what Teresa had said. 

“Pretty far I guess,” Thomas shrugged, “It was easy to remember the way back, though.”

Newt chuckled, “Maybe you _are_ cut out to be a Runner.”

“Maybe.” He couldn’t muster the energy to chuckle in agreement, despite feeling Newt’s sentiment stronger than he could imagine. 

“Bet you’re bloody tired though, after that.” Newt said, beginning to rise to his feet, “I’ll let ya get some rest.”

“Wait.”

Thomas hadn’t even thought before speaking, the word had just slipped out. He had realized, as Newt stood to leave, that he didn’t want to be alone anymore. Or at least, when he was around him he felt comfortable, like he was still able to relax fully in the same way as when he was alone. For some reason he felt like he’d always known Newt – as if in a past life, or in the life he couldn’t remember save for flashes and dreams. It was difficult to explain, even in his own head.

“Would. . .you stay?”

Newt looked at him for a long moment, something flickering in his expression he couldn’t identify. For some reason he couldn’t explain, Thomas felt a burst of relief when the older boy gave him a small crooked smile and returned to his seat with a gruff, “gimme some of that” and reached for the blanket covering his body. 

Thomas lifted the edge of the blanket and Newt scooted closer until their shoulders were pressed together, draping the blanket over his legs. He looked over at him, finding that in the low light his blond hair looked nearly brown, and he couldn’t tell what color his eyes were even from less than a foot away. There was something so familiar about the boy. . .

“Got something on my face?” Newt asked, looking curiously at him. 

Embarrassment rose hotly up his neck and he looked away, shaking his head. “No, sorry – it’s just, I feel like I know you.” 

Newt’s eyebrows creased together in confusion. 

“Like we were together in a past life, or something.” Thomas continued in fits and starts, attempting to get what he felt in his mind into words he could speak coherently. 

_“Together?”_ Newt’s eyebrows shot up and Thomas felt both the urge to laugh at how expressive they were, as well as to backpedal over his word choice. 

“No! I mean – well. . .like, we knew each other and were close. You feel comfortable, like I already know you or something, I don’t know. . .” Thomas trailed off, looking down to where his fingers worried at the edge of the blanket, embarrassment once again flooding his body. How could have just said something like that? He’d basically just said he liked Newt – in a way he was nearly sure wasn’t reciprocated and in a way he wasn’t sure he wanted to feel, just yet. He took a breath, and looked up again. 

As always, Newt met his gaze steadily. Immediately, Thomas felt calmer than he had a moment ago. 

“Look,” he continued, “I don’t know what I did in my life before this, or what you did or where we even came from; all I know is that I feel like you and I know each other – really well, and it’s strange because I don’t really know you, I’ve only been here a couple of days after all-” At that point, Thomas knew he was rambling, but it was like he couldn’t get his mouth to shut up, thoughts from his brain pouring straight out of his mouth with no filter. 

“Tommy,” Newt spoke his nickname softly, calmly, and Thomas stopped, closing his mouth. “I don’t bloody know what’s going on here, but I do know that since you came up in the Box nothing’s been the same. Now, I don’t feel like I know you, but I’ll just about follow you anywhere if it’s out of this place – and with Gally goin’ on and on about you there’s gotta be a reason.” 

Newt paused, leaning a knee against his own and leaving it there, watching the way the blanket crinkled in the space between. He then looked up and met Thomas’s gaze yet again, suddenly much closer than before and he felt his breath hitch in his throat. “Reason or no reason, though, I’m glad you’re here. Maybe it means we’ll get outta this shuck place, and I’ve already tried that once – the hard way.” 

“What happened?” Thomas asked before he could catch himself, distracted by the older boy’s sudden closeness. 

“’S how I got my leg messed up.” Newt reached up and tapped his knee. “One day I just couldn’t take it anymore and I. . .I jumped. Off the top of one of the walls. Didn’t make it all the way to the ground, ivy caught my leg and stopped me. Alby found me soon after, but we’ve never talked about it since he brought me back to the Glade that day.” His voice had grown softer and softer until it was a mere whisper and Thomas was straining to hear. 

But he understood what Newt meant, in between his words and what he wasn’t saying. His arriving in the Box meant a new hope for escape that hadn’t been there before, and that was a hope Newt seemed to be clinging to desperately. 

In the silence that fell after Newt’s admission, Thomas felt his eyes grow heavy and his body fill with exhaustion once again. He needed sleep, desperately. He sighed, allowing his head to drop to Newt’s shoulder. He wasn’t usually one to initiate physical contact but once again came that feeling of _rightness_ and _comfort_ and of something simply. . .Newt, and he didn’t feel so bad about it. 

The boy beside him stiffened for a moment then relaxed with a sigh of his own and shifted so he could reciprocate the action, his head resting lightly on top of Thomas’s. They sat there a while, Thomas’s eyes drooping more and more until he found himself being shifted so he was lying mostly vertical with his head propped up on something solid but comfortable, and warm. Mostly asleep now, he relaxed, faintly recognizing the feeling of fingers gently carding through his hair as he drifted off. 

_Whatever the morning brought,_ Thomas thought, _he could do it with Newt by his side._ So long as he had his steady presence, wit, and crooked smile, he could figure out his place in the Glade and what it all meant – the girl, the Maze, the Changing, his flashes of memories or dreams or whatever they were. 

The world was alright, just then, and he felt hopeful as he slipped into sleep, calmer than he’d felt the entirety of his time since he’d come out of the Box. And when Chuck came to wake him up in the morning to find him lying with an arm thrown around Newt’s waist and Newt curled into his side, he said nothing – only giving the older boy a shake and finding a half-hearted glare thrown his way as he awoke. 

Yes, they would be alright. Whatever he found himself feeling towards Newt, and whatever happened next, Thomas knew – even a promise of hope was enough to feel free. And now that he had that, he’d never stop chasing it until he was.


End file.
